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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MichaelW who wrote (34982)	3/20/1998 1:35:00 AM
From: K. M. Strickler	Respond to of 176387

MW, I don't mind if IBM and CPQ bail, but I sure want GTW to stay, or DELL will be in Washington DC facing the DOJ! That wouldn't be good! Regards, Ken

To: MichaelW who wrote (34982)	3/20/1998 1:08:00 PM
From: Jim Patterson	Respond to of 176387

re: <<If CPQ and IBM come out with bad earnings again, and Dell comes out with good earnings, Dell may stand-alone as a real power,...>> Just remember that that real power is still only half of the two unprofitable compannies you mention. Jim

To: MichaelW who wrote (34982)	3/21/1998 11:24:00 AM
From: Jack T. Pearson	Respond to of 176387

MichaelW, The following is pure argument and opinion (as opposed to facts): Getting out of retail PC channels and into direct sales would be terribly difficult for anyone. It would be a total culture change. A lot of the people who work there would have to be released or replaced--I suspect about 80%. During the transition, billions of dollars of sales might be lost to retail competitors because not everyone will buy direct. What percent of the total market for PCs is direct sales? 25%? What percent of that would a newcomer to the direct sales business expect to capture from Dell? I don't think CPQ and IBM will take the risk of getting out of the retail market to get into direct sales. I think they might try to do both, but I don't think it will work. They will lose big with their retail channels if they try to sell direct, and they apparently believe the same thing or they would have tried it. No, I think they will try other things to shrink their inventory and squeeze their retail margins. I think the retail sellers will mostly end up taking market share from other higher cost retail sellers, not from the direct sellers. Jack